


Routine Operation

by mylordshesacactus



Category: RWBY
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Polyamory, Reasonable Authority Figures, Ruby Is Too Pure For This Sinful Earth, Yatsu is everyone's brother, before you pick on the local Faunus make sure her girlfriend doesn't have a minigun in her purse, v1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-06
Updated: 2016-08-06
Packaged: 2018-07-29 15:17:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7689670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mylordshesacactus/pseuds/mylordshesacactus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She’d already realized that holding Cardin Winchester down and rearranging his bone structure was off the table, but only because shredding him and hiding the pieces in the walls would probably upset Velvet. Sweet girl. No appreciation for style. Tragic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Routine Operation

Velvet Scarlatina _liked_ routines.

And this one, CFVY had down to a science. Most of their maneuvers were down to a science, actually! It was kind of great. She was really glad Coco was the organized type. No words wasted on this team. They’d been together long enough that they always knew exactly where they needed to be, and what they needed to do when they got there.

When you were, well, you know, Velvet, having clear and well-rehearsed expectations for everything was _really_ really nice.

 _7:30am, every day: Alarm goes off_.

 _Check_.

She rolled over blindly, smacking her low bookshelf a few times before finally managing to tap the alarm on her scroll off. For a minute she stayed curled up in her carefully-constructed nest of blankets, then yawned, stretched, and reluctantly climbed out of it.

Start pot of coffee: Check.

Nothing short of the smell of her favorite blend had a prayer of getting Coco out of bed in the morning, and the sooner it got started the better the chances that she’d be mostly conscious in time for first period. Velvet didn’t quite get that, but then she was what Fox called a “morning person”. She’d heard people say “Grimm” in a tone that wasn’t half as dark. It wasn’t her fault rabbits were crepuscular, _Fox_.

As per the morning Routine, she double-checked the coffeemaker and then crossed to Fox’s corner of the room and hauled his covers off, grateful that Yatsuhashi had complained him into sleeping in briefs two years ago. Just because _Coco_ didn’t mind seeing him naked didn’t mean anyone else, like the person in charge of waking him up in the morning, wanted to start the day with that kind of eyeful.

Daily shudder at unwanted mental image: Check.

Coffee started, Fox in the process of rebooting. Next: establish ownership of joint bathroom, splash some water on her face to wake up. Brush teeth: Check. Hair brushed: Check. Ears: in progress.

Humans wouldn’t think her ears took as much maintenance as they did. Rabbit fur was incredibly fine, which meant _everything_ got caught in it. Despite what...what some people might say, she didn’t lick her ears clean. She did, however, have a soft-bristled brush a lot like a large toothbrush to work the dust and fuzz out, and a fine-toothed comb to get rid of any tangles or clumps. It was a _process_.

Ear-care: Check.

Velvet tucked her toiletry box under the sink and let herself back into the room, where everyone was exactly where they always were. Coco’s bed, the one with the thick cream-colored curtains around it, was still undisturbed. Fox was lying on the floor in his corner of the room, still wearing nothing but his underwear, performing a few halfhearted stretches and yawning like he was trying to dislocate his own jaw.

Oh, ow. Mental image. Was it possible to hurt yourself by yawning? She hoped Fox wouldn’t find out.

And Yatsuhashi, across from him, was just tossing a towel around his shoulders.

“Morning, Velvet,” he yawned, still managing a tired smile and a light punch on the shoulder as he moved to take his turn in the bathroom.

The guys showered in the morning. Coco was self-aware enough to take showers the night before because she knew not to give herself any unnecessary tasks in the morning; Velvet just didn’t like being wet this early. Too much of a system shock.

She didn’t really know why the guys _bothered_ showering in the morning actually, because they had first-period sparring and they’d just get sweaty and gross and have to shower _again_. It was just their Thing, she guessed.

Right on schedule, the coffeemaker gave a pleasant _ding_. Fox groaned and pulled himself off the floor, stumbled over to the side table, and poured out two large mugs just in time for Coco to appear in the break of her bedside curtains as if summoned, with a growl Velvet normally only heard from Ursas. Wearing perfectly flattering black-satin pajamas trimmed in gold, of course. She was Coco.

Fox calmly handed her the mug without a cartoon dog on it and kissed her head.

“Morning to you too, sunshine.”

Coco ignored him, all but dropping her face into her coffee.

Velvet was about ninety percent certain Coco was faking the whole zombie routine, because in the field she was sometimes up even before Velvet was, and she’d responded to emergency alerts in the middle of the night at the speed of sound. But if she wanted to pretend she couldn’t _possibly_ function without caffeine, Velvet didn’t mind. Coco never snapped at anyone. It was no hassle to indulge her a bit.

She waved good morning, then turned her back on Fox and started to change into her uniform.

Cue the next step of the routine. Long-suffering sigh of actual physical pain from one Coco Adel...Check.

Velvet folded her pajama shirt, which was an old, beat-up T-shirt in bright turquoise, with the logo of...some restaurant her father had loved in his school days that she’d never seen...emblazoned on the chest. She set this on top of her pink-checkered pants and looked over her shoulder at Coco, whose eyes were finally starting to focus.

Coco’s lips twitched. Sighing again as she took a sip of coffee, she shook her head in mock despair.

“You make it look good,” she said warmly, obviously lying through her teeth. Velvet blushed anyway and sat on the bed to kiss her cheek. Coco interrupted her plans by giving a soft hum of pleasure and turning her head just enough…

“Coco,” Yatsuhashi called, unimpressed. “Bathroom’s free.”

Coco gave another aggrieved sigh. “All right, kid,” she ordered Velvet, lightly smacking her hip. “Go eat, we’ll meet you in class. We’re still doubles this week, so I want to mix things up a bit. Yatsu, Fox, I want you guys out there today, I’ll take V tomorrow. Pick one of the agility teams, we all know nobody can outdo you in brute force…”

Oh _no_. That meant her and Coco _would_ be squaring off with a brute-force melee pair when their turn came. Coco didn’t give anyone a break in working on their weaknesses, especially herself. Didn’t stop Velvet from wincing preemptively at the bruises they’d be walking around with tomorrow.

Well, maybe not. Coco could be almost as protective as Yatsuhashi, sometimes. Except she could demolish a lot more people a lot faster from a greater distance. Which was nice.

“I don’t mind waiting,” Velvet said, hopeful, hoping the nervousness stayed out of her voice. “We can go down together?”

Her stomach, inconveniently, chose that moment to growl.

Coco laughed, ran fingers through Velvet’s hair and kissed her temple. “Go on, you’ve earned it. We’ll catch up.”

She was still running over the plan for today’s sparring match with the others, all traces of sleepiness gone from her voice, when Velvet closed the door behind her and bit her lip, sticking close to the wall as she picked her way reluctantly downstairs.

* * *

Coco rolled her shoulders and tried not to wince.

Oh, they’d won, of course. Velvet was a force to be reckoned with, especially since everyone and their aunt insisted on underestimating her--as if Team CFVY could have their record and success rate without its resident tech genius. And all Coco ever needed was to get clear enough to activate the minigun, and then sparring matches tended to be over.

But it had taken almost a full minute and a half for the two of them to get their double-KO, and that was at least forty-five seconds too long.

“We’re slipping,” she said bluntly as they joined the others in the locker room, straightening her sleeves. “There’s a reason we usually pair with one of the guys and in the field it’s the best strategy, but we have to be able to function separated.”

“Training session this weekend?”

Velvet sounded more resigned than questioning, and Coco grinned at her.

“You know it, kid. Don’t look at me like that.”

Velvet sighed sadly and loosened her pauldron. She’d just hung it up in her locker and set to work on the second when the next class started to flood in. Coco rolled her eyes behind her shades based solely on previous experience. _First-years_. She pointedly set her case on the ground in such a position that anyone attempting to invade her personal bubble would hobble off with a bruised shin. And/or several broken toes. It wasn’t a light case, there was weapon in that thing capable of reducing buildings to rubble. Ozpin would call it a _learning experience_.

“You’re too hard on yourself.” That was Yatsuhashi, leaning on the locker next to Coco’s with Fox at his side. “You both did well. They never had a chance, Coco.”

Okay, so he was right and they’d really been toying with the other team. That didn’t change the fact that there were serious, exploitable holes in their defenses.

“That’s my job,” she reminded him. Then, “Here, Velvet. Hold still.” Her pauldron seemed stuck; she’d been tugging at the strap for a good minute trying to get it off, and Coco firmly guided her fingers away and undid the fastenings herself. “There you go, sweetheart. Yatsu, don’t think flattery’s getting you out of this tactical session. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that--”

“Coco,” Velvet whispered in her ear. “I’m going to class.”

Surprised, Coco glanced at her watch. “You sure? We’ve got fifteen minutes.”

Velvet nodded, ears twitching back. The noise of two classes at once in an echoey locker room, especially with a group of rowdy teenage boys in the corner, was probably hard on Faunus hearing. Coco squeezed her arm reassuringly. “All right, Velvet. We’ll catch up.”

“Don’t forget,” Yatsuhashi added. “We’re finding essay references in the library later!”

Velvet half-glanced over her shoulder to nod, but didn’t pause as she hurried out. Coco watched her go before turning back to her boys. “Fox,” she said. “I need you to sit down with me this week and talk merging speed and power.”

Fox grinned. “Is that what we’re calling it now?”

If Coco’s briefcase were less capable of snapping bones like kindling, she’d have hit him with it. As it was she just smirked. “We’re not calling it anything if you can’t behave yourself. We need to discuss some tactical maneuvers I’ve been thinking of implementing in the field…”

She trailed off as a tentative tap on her upper arm distracted her. Coco glanced to her right, didn’t see anyone, and turned to look around and then, finally, down.

“Hi,” the young girl standing at her elbow said awkwardly. “Sorry! Didn’t mean to...interrupt...I’m Ruby?”

Coco didn’t really interact with the first-years much, but vague talk about a little girl with a scythe who’d been given special dispensation by Ozpin still reached her. Her strength did not particularly lie in minding her own business. She liked to be on top of information before it was released, if possible.

The poor kid looked terrified, so Coco smiled at her and leaned one arm against her locker. “Ruby Rose,” she said. “Coco Adel. Welcome to Beacon. Need help with something, kid?”

Ruby shifted from one foot to the other, wringing her hands. “I just wanted to ask,” she said. “Is...Yang said you have that faunus girl on your team, right?”

Coco raised an eyebrow.

“Her name’s Velvet,” she said after a long pause. She kept her voice as neutral as possible. As far as she could tell, Ruby meant no harm whatsoever; she seemed almost painfully open and earnest, and there’d been no malice or derision when she mentioned Velvet’s species. Coco would give this girl the benefit of the doubt--once.

“Is...she okay?” asked Ruby.

Coco blinked.

Alright: unexpected. She was big enough to admit that.

As far as she knew Velvet had never even spoken to Ruby Rose. Certainly they weren’t close enough to be called friends. True, Velvet was shy and sweet and nervous--and Coco realized suddenly that a lot of Ruby’s mannerisms reminded her of her partner right now, which did a lot to place the kid on her good side--and a bystander might take notice. Especially if they were young and empathetic. But the way Ruby was bouncing anxiously on the balls of her feet, the burning concern sketched across her face...This was more than vague concern or idle curiosity, which meant something specific, and if she wasn’t close enough to be a confidante…

Coco lowered her glasses.

“Is there a reason you’re asking?”

* * *

“Coco?”

“Not interested.”

There was a heavy sigh--Fox, she assumed, taking the stairs two at a time to keep up with her. He didn’t interrupt again, though. She appreciated that. So hard these days to find a man with the proper respect for a good towering rage.

A hand on her shoulder stopped her on the landing, and she turned with teeth bared on Yatsuhashi.

“Coco,” he said firmly.

After a moment a grinding her teeth, she squeezed her eyes shut and pinched the bridge of her nose. The big guy’s advice was never worth ignoring. He was basically everyone’s big brother, steadier and more focused than she was. And he loved Velvet like family.

“All right,” she ground out. “All right, Yatsu, what is it?”

“Coco,” he repeated. “Look at me.”

She met his eyes, although she kept the shades in place. She had a reputation to maintain here, after all.

Yatsuhashi placed both hands on her shoulders, gazing solemnly into her eyes.

“Your chill, woman,” he told her. “Find it.”

Fox snorted, and Coco rolled her eyes and shrugged him off. Still. Dammit, she _was_ calmer and more centered as she rapped on their door and let herself in. How did Yatsu do it, anyway?

Velvet was already there, wrapped in a blanket and in the middle of today’s political history reading. She looked up at their entrance, ears twitching toward the door as she perked up.

“Coco!” she marked her page with an index card and set the textbook aside. “I thought you were going into Vale?”

Coco affected a careless shrug and slung her bookbag onto the floor. “Plans change.” She took at seat on the edge of her bunk, crossed her legs, and leaned forward. “How’re you holding up, Velvet?”

Velvet cocked her head, and she looked so _cute_ and innocent--vulnerable--that it broke Coco’s heart. “I’m fine. What do you mean?”

Oh, Velvet. It would have been convincing, if her shoulders weren’t so high and tight. But she wasn’t lying, either. She honestly didn’t know what Coco was talking about.

Coco watched her for a moment. Then she uncrossed her legs, crossed them in the opposite direction, and said clearly, “Cardin Winchester.”

That was a flinch. She tried to hide it, but, well. Velvet wasn’t very good at hiding her emotions.

“It was nothing, Coco.”

“What I heard didn’t sound like nothing. He hurt you.”

“It’s not important,” Velvet told the floor. “I’m fine.”

For another long moment, Coco watched her. Finally she reached up, flicked her shades off, folded, them, and set them aside. She sighed.

“Come here, kid.”

Velvet winced. She stood and crossed over to sit next to Coco, but she was still stiff and unhappy, and Coco resisted the urge to put an arm around her; sometimes a girl needed space. She settled for rubbing a hand over the small of Velvet’s back.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked.

Velvet stared at her own hands for long enough that Coco expected the answer to be “no,” then took a deep breath.

“It shouldn’t matter what people like him think,” she said. “I don’t care. They’re wrong!”

“Of course they are,” Yatsu commented soothingly from across the room. Just because the others knew to let Coco handle her girlfriend didn’t mean they weren’t all perfectly willing to form a human shield between Velvet and the rest of the world. They were a team.

Coco coaxed Velvet a little closer to her side. “But it does matter.”

Velvet nodded jerkily.

“Well, you seem to have made a good impression on the other new kids,” Coco pointed out. “You’ve got two rookie teams on standby to break this guy’s legs, apparently.” She paused. “One of them was _really_ enthusiastic. That girl’s going places.”

Velvet made a game attempt at a smile, but hugged herself harder than ever and finally gave in, curling up against Coco’s shoulder. “That’s _worse_.” At Coco’s concerned look, voice tiny and hurt, she said, “We have one of the best records at Beacon. I--the things we’ve done together are incredible! I have you! And Fox, and Yatsu, and he doesn’t have anything, he’s never _accomplished_ anything. And all anybody ever sees is that I’m a...a scared little _bunny_.”

Coco’s arms came up reflexively to hold Velvet as she she clung to her shoulder.

“Easy,” she murmured. She caught Yatsu’s eye across the room and jerked her head, and he immediately got up to join them. “No one in here pities you, V.” A smile tugged at her lips. “We’re all too intimidated.”

That got a weak laugh and a sniff, at least. “Liar.”

Coco smiled properly, giving her a gentle squeeze. “Hey. We need you, Velvet. When it comes to Grimm and criminals, we _all_ watch other’s backs. You’re too good for me to cripple the team by pretending you’re not just as good as the rest of us.” The bed dipped as Yatsuhashi sat down on Velvet’s other side, squeezing her shoulder. “But your enemies are supposed to be out there, not inside Beacon. What do you think I’d do to some upstart rookie who got all his friends together to drag _Fox_ around by the hair and publicly humiliate him?”

After a second of thought, Velvet admitted “They’d never find the body.”

“Damn straight.”

Velvet finally started to relax as Coco stroked her hair. “Thank you,” she said quietly, nuzzling into Coco’s neck as that delicate twang in her voice turned the words softer. “I know it doesn’t matter to you that I’m a Faunus.”

“Mmm...wrong.” Velvet’s head came off her shoulder, and she met the confused look with a mild eyebrow raise. “You put up with people like this every day and I’m supposed to think that doesn’t matter? Come on, kid. You’re worth more to us than that. Besides.” She snapped her shades back on with one hand and leaned carelessly on the other, winking over the top of her sunglasses. “The ears are _cute_ , cottontail.”

Velvet blushed and grinned, hiding her face in her hands, and Coco kissed her temple. Reaching around Velvet’s back, she handed Yatsuhashi her wallet.

“She’s been missing meals,” she told him. “Lunch yesterday and breakfast today. Take her into Vale, all right? Maybe that salad buffet place across from the shoestore, with the ugly tablecloths. She needs to eat.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Velvet protested weakly. “Really, Coco, it’s…”

Coco lowered her shades and gave her girlfriend a meaningful look.

Velvet blushed again. “Thanks.”

“Hey.” Coco ran the backs of her fingers down Velvet’s face. “You know I love you.”

“I know.”

Well, that was all the emotional vulnerability Coco Adel would be indulging in today. The only thing she wanted giving her heart palpitations while making her feel warm and shaky and a little lightheaded was really good coffee at three in the morning.

She stood up, ruffling Velvet’s hair between her ears and scratching the bases the way Velvet liked. She looked happier already; brighter, her shoulders down and loose. Good. Velvet deserved to feel safe.

“Take care of my girl, Yatsu,” Coco ordered, casually cracking her knuckles and motioning Fox out the door. “We’ve got a body to bury.”

* * *

The minute the door closed behind them, Fox affected a deeply hurt expression.

“You never tell _me_ you love me,” he pouted.

“Shut up, Fox, I’m using you for your body.” She softened the familiar tease with a light smack to his abs and a smirk over her shoulder.

Look, she cared about them both. Fox and Velvet just...needed different approaches. Velvet didn’t mind sharing her with Fox, Coco didn’t mind sharing Fox with whoever else caught his eye, and Yatsuhashi somehow managed to put up with everyone else on his team dating each other without strangling anyone.

It worked.

Fox, recovering from his utter heartbreak suspiciously fast considering his world had _clearly_ just been shattered, fell into step beside her.

“So,” he said. “How bad do I hurt this guy?”

Coco thought about it and heaved a sigh. She’d already realized that holding Cardin Winchester down and rearranging his bone structure was off the table, but only because shredding him and hiding the pieces in the walls would probably upset Velvet. Sweet girl. _No_ appreciation for style. Tragic.

“ _Discretion_ , Fox” she said instead. “It won’t do Velvet any good if we give him reason to retaliate. I want her safe more than I want him punished.”

Fox considered it.

“You sure about that, boss?”

Coco snorted. “Of course not, I want to paint the walls with him. I’m just not _going_ to.”

* * *

“...we appreciate it, professor.”

Amazing what a girl could accomplish with a mostly-clean record and some polite charm, as unsatisfying as it might be. Glynda stood to see them out, which could be a sign that their conversation had gone well or that she was desperately trying to get rid of them. Coco was fine with either option, honestly. Sometimes it paid to be a squeaky wheel if the administration wouldn’t listen to you otherwise.

She didn’t think that was it, though. Glynda, as terrified as everyone had been of her as first-years, was a decent enough sort. Her and Ozpin didn’t give bullies leeway. And _everyone_ liked Velvet.

“Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Miss Adel,” said Glynda, stepping aside to hold the door open for them. Trying to get rid of them it was. “I had noticed similar patterns with other students, but until now racially-charged attacks had not been among them. I will see what can be done.”

Coco gave a little half-bow, tapping the side of her beret in what was almost a polite tip of the hat. “That’s all I ask. Just a warning, though, professor.”

Glynda’s eyebrows almost lept off her face, but she didn’t seem...any more outwardly angry than usual, aside from tapping her crop against her leg. “Pardon?”

Coco folded her arms and tossed her head back. This, she refused to back down on. “Kid got lucky this time. She was alone. If anyone tries to hurt my team again, I’m stopping it however I have to.”

“I see.” Glynda did not sound impressed. “Allow me to remind you, Miss Adel, that Beacon Academy has strict rules in place about violence among students, regardless of the provocation.” That was a blatant lie, but Coco managed not to laugh. _Buildings_ got destroyed at Beacon on a bi-monthly basis. “Should anyone choose to take such matters into their own hands rather than bringing it to the attention of the staff, they _would_ face disciplinary action.”

Coco inclined her head, once, in acknowledgement. “Let’s go, Fox.”

“Miss Adel.”

She stopped, looked over her shoulder to where Glynda was watching her, half-smiling.  
  
“That being said,” she told them. “I would expect nothing less.”


End file.
